Walkthrough

You Can Be My Wingman Anytime is the extra task on this mission. Basically do the whole mission without the plane being damaged, or failing an objective. A "perfect run" .... which may be done on the Easiest Difficulty.

As Hawkins, you are on a plane rail shooter that alternates between attack (use missiles) and defend (use chaff). The gun is almost useless since you are not the pilot and cannot hold the plane stable enough to do anything except when the pilot asks you to fire. Note that for Easy Difficulty, the lock-on timer is almost negligible and the enemy A.I. almost never counters your missile locks.

Ready Aircraft

Lower cockpit, check your craft's wings and stabilizers (camera and freelook check), and check the weapons (practice weapons selection). Once you're ready, launch yourself into the air courtesy of the idiot-proof U.S NAVY.

The Air Combat

You will need to "dogfight" the enemy bogeys -- basically four Russian Flankers (in two sets of two). When the enemy is behind you, fire countermeasures when you hear the unbroken lock-on tone from the enemy (you may want to switch to your F/A-18's guns to turn off the lock-on tone from your own missiles, or it may confuse you).

Deploy chaff/countermeasures when you see the enemy fire a missile; you can take at most three hits from the enemy (on normal; on hard, you take one and are killed on the second hit). Note that on hard, the time needed to score a successful hit on the enemy will take longer (so you need to be accurate and responsive with keeping your target circle on the enemy).

Once all four Flankers are destroyed, you move into your slot and proceed with the ground attack.

The Ground Combat

For the ground attack, you will deploy AGM-88 HARM warheads, and designate for fellow pilots to drop JDAMs and commit to strafing runs.

Destroy the three anti-aircraft sites with the AGM-88 (lock-on and fire). For the designation drops, you need to keep the targeting reticule over the target. Try zooming in to minimize your aim-wavering.

For the final target(s) with the A-10 Thunderbolt / Warthog strafing, the spot where you click fire will be where the A-10 will strafe (approximately).